I have been interviewing off and on for product manager jobs. I am so tired and exhausted from working startups and doing that. I’m freaking burned out.

Anyway, today I got an offer from a VC funded, pre-shipped startup who reached out to me.

I love the founder. I love the idea but there is part of the implementation that is bugging my conservative upbringing from an ethical point of view.

Also, I want a more stable company. I want to have a senior product manager to be my mentor and learn from in that role. I won’t have it here. I don’t want to have to figure it out anymore by myself, like I had to in my old startup.

Comments (6)

You are an INFJ, not and ENFP. I can tell from the email. ENFPs care that the company values them, but not that the company values their values. INFJs expect everyone to share their fundamental values.

You will have an ethical problem with every single company because every company in the world cares more about making money than upholding your values. People who love going to work every day don’t care about values or they make very little money doing good deeds — because as a society we don’t think people should be paid for doing good deeds.

I never know why people need jobs to fit their values and I never know why people need a company to value them. Myers-Briggs makes those things clear and relieves the tension and anxiety I experience when encountering people who want those things.

Core values I have for jobs are challenge (mostly of the problem-solving variety but also skills-honing), being left alone, and non-linear paths for getting things done (I get to invent the route going from A – Z, not fulfill a predetermined path).

I’m intrigued by J personalities because it seems like they are from another planet than I am.

I like jobs where people don’t take things personally and decisions can be based on analysis, even aesthetic analysis. It’s nice to find ones comfort zone and know that I don’t have to care about values, niceness of coworkers, or being valued myself. It’s nice to know why people probably won’t like this kind of way, so that I can categorize it (“Oh, that person is an FJ or FP or whatever) rather than just be annoyed or confused.

Additionally to what Penelope pointed out, if you are already burned out, tired, and exhausted from working with startups, why would you even entertain this offer? Just because you love the founder doesn’t mean it will make the experience any different than the others.

If you want a stable and mature company, then your answer seems pretty obvious. Doesn’t it?

Posted by YesMyKidsAreSocialized
on August 8, 2016 at 5:24 pm
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Senior product manager here, working for tech startups for 5 years now after several as a consultant. I was lucky that in previous jobs I always had someone more senior than me to be a mentor. Made a huge difference, so I think you should keep your goal of finding a startup or company that’s at a more mature place where you don’t have to figure things out all alone.

I feel my learning was accelerated in an environment like this, and now I’m in the position to be a mentor to more junior PMs on my team. I urge you to keep looking — the right role will come!